The general ignorance of individuals.

Charleston, in truth, hasn't been a complete bust. There are some genuinely nice things about the city, such as FestivALL in the summer, and the Clay Center (which, due to financial and time constraints, we have unfortunately never been able to take advantage of). The mall, especially compared to Morgantown, is fantastic.

However, for everything I find positive here, there are ten more things that convinced us to move. One, is genuinely, the people. Now, I have been no stranger in my life, to snide off handed remarks, but here, it has been what I would consider genuine ignorance. While I grew up in a very small town (that was racially UNdiverse), most things said to me had the purpose of being rude, or to provoke a rise out of me (which isn't that hard). However, allow me to give you an example of the strange occurances down here:

Xave and I were at the local Kroger together, looking at salad greens, when an elderly woman approaches me and asks if I can help her find an item. I assist her, she is grateful, and apparently wanting to repay in kindness says, "You know young lady, there is a grocery store a few miles here, where people who look like you and your son shop...". It was hardly malicious, but I was quite taken by the remark.

Last weekend, The Husband took Xavier to Chuck E. Cheese's. Out of the blue, he explained, someone came to him and asked, "Is that boy from China, or somethin'?". My Husband, better able at handling these situations than I, responded with, "No, he's from Morgantown,". The kicker to this story, was one of the individuals I work with (whom I have nicknamed "Country Bumpkin" when discussing him with my husband). After I laughed at the story Country Bumpkin said, "Well, that's a legitimate question. He has your eyes after all." Unlike my dear husband, I was unable to think of any response.

While these last two examples were directed at our family, there are other strange and other worldy remarks as well. For example, the aforementioned Country Bumpkin has quite...interesting feelings regarding the recent tragedy in Japan. When I walked into work Friday morning, and remarked at how awful it was, Country Bumpkin went on a 30 minute rant about how each news story about Japan made dollar signs show up in his eyes since it would drive up the price of gasoline. No concern for the human lives lost or the grand extent of the destruction...just that this was going to make his (5 minute) commute that much more expensive. (I quietly wondered if he even realized how cheap gas is in the United States compared to the rest of the world.)